Fees rise in fall: 10% at CSU and 7% at UC
Modesto Bee 3/15/07
On Wednesday, board members at the California State University and University of California systems increased fees for undergraduate students 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively. The fifth increase in six years will take effect this fall.
UC Merced Associated Students President Josh Franco, who attended the UC regents meeting in Los Angeles, called the increases outrageous. He expressed his displeasure over the regents' lack of lobbying for more state funding and the state government's depleting financial support for California's colleges.
Back home, students were absorbing the impact.
"I understand the cost of education has increased and inflation. What's shocking is how increases to fees have gone much further than inflation," said Matt Creeger, a senior studying psychology and public policy at UC Merced.
At UC campuses, the $435 boost for the 2007-08 school year takes the annual total to about $7,300 for the system's 10 schools. Graduate fees will jump 8 percent, and some professional school fees could rise by 10 percent.
CSU fees have jumped 94 percent since 2002.
The CSU's hike brings an undergraduate's annual bill, including campus fees, to $3,400. The increase averages about $250 for students at the CSU's 23 campuses.
University administrators said they don't like the increases, but they have to maintain quality.
After several years of deep budget cuts in the early 1990s, UC and CSU officials struck a deal with Gov. Schwarzenegger that promised small but predictable increases in state funding along with annual fee increases of no more than 10 percent.
Last year, the governor made the hikes unnecessary by putting extra money into the budget. That hasn't happened this year, and although legislators could change that before the state's budget is approved this summer, university officials say they don't have any indication that will happen.
"These types of increases affect students' will to enroll in a UC, and for students who already enrolled, it affects their ability to continue to stay," Creeger said.
Aaron Simon-Welch said he doesn't mind paying more money for college as long as it goes toward the students. The Stanislaus State business marketing junior added that people are still paying the exponentially increasing fees.
Stanislaus State graduate student Andrew LaFlamme urged students to seek help from their financial aid offices. LaFlamme is a student trustee on the CSU board of trustees and attended their meeting in Long Beach on Wednesday.
"There was a lot of talk among trustees about financial aid, to make sure the neediest students will be supplemented," LaFlamme said. A third of each student's fees goes into a financial aid pot, so the more students pay in fees, the more financial aid is available.
State and federal financial aid allotments have remained stagnant for years, forcing students to work or take out loans to pay the steep annual increases in fees.
"Now, if the parents can't help out more, students will have to look at more loans. How much credit can an 18-year-old kid have?" Creeger asked.
Despite the increases, many consider a CSU and UC education affordable compared with similar institutions. For example, the CSU still will have the lowest fees among its comparison institutions across the country.
But students say the costs of living in California are high, putting the total annual bill of attending college out of reach for many.
They also argue that the CSU and UC administrations waste money on salaries that could be spent on students.
Student fees have increased 94 percent in five years while CSU executives have raked in 23 percent pay hikes, according to the California Faculty Association.